1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for registering a direct dialing number of each child station in a telephone or facsimile apparatus including a parent station connected to a communication line and a plurality of child stations capable of two-way communication with the parent station, wherein due to specific identification numbers pre-set for the individual child stations, transmission and reception between the parent station and a specific child station can be performed. More particularly, the invention relates to a direct dialing number registering method that, during an operation of registering a direct dialing number, clearly indicates to a user for which child station the user is about to register or has registered a direct dialing number.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional telephone or facsimile apparatus including a parent station connected to a public telephone line and plural child stations capable of two-way communication with the parent station, a specific identification number of each child station is pre-set in both the child station and the parent station so that exclusive communication between the parent station and a specific child station is possible. That is, transmission and reception between the parent station and a child station is allowed only upon matching an identification number.
When a direct dialing number system is to be adopted in a telephone or facsimile apparatus having a parent station and plural child stations as described above so that a specific external line signal from the public telephone line will be directly received by a specific child station, it is necessary to assign the individual child stations with different direct dialing numbers (normally defined by the last one to four digits of the telephone number or the like).
Direct dialing numbers for the individual child stations can be set by registering the direct dialing number for each child station in the parent station so as to correspond to the identification number of the child station. The operation of registering direct dialing numbers is performed normally by using only the parent station. For example, after the parent station is set to a registering mode, the direct dialing numbers of child stations are registered by sequentially inputting direct dialing numbers corresponding to child station numbers or identification numbers that are displayed in the parent station.
However, not many users of such telephone or facsimile apparatuses know which child station numbers or identification numbers are set for the individual child stations. Therefore, although the parent station displays child station numbers or identification numbers during registration of direct dialing numbers, the display of child station numbers or identification numbers does not help a user to realize which one of the displayed numbers corresponds to which one of the child stations. Consequently, it is often the case that after completing the operation of registering direct dialing numbers, a user still does not know the correspondence between the registered direct dialing numbers and the child stations.
In such a case, to find out the correspondence between the registered direct dialing numbers and the child stations, the user needs to perform a test call or facsimile transmission to each registered direct dialing number and see which child station responds. Such an operation for checking the setting of direct dialing numbers is troublesome and inefficient.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a direct dialing number registering method that, at the time of registration of direct dialing numbers for plural child stations into a parent station, clearly indicates to a user which child station corresponds to a direct dialing number that is about to be registered or has just been registered.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a direct dialing number registering method in a communication apparatus including a parent station connected to a communication line and a plurality of child stations capable of two-way communication with the parent station, wherein due to specific identification numbers pre-set for the individual child stations, transmission and reception between the parent station and a specific child station can be performed. In the method, a direct dialing number for a child station is registered into the parent station and, in addition, the child station is caused to indicate that the child station corresponds to the direct dialing number.
In the direct dialing number registering method, it is also possible to register the direct dialing number for the child station into the parent station after the child station is caused to indicate that the child station corresponds to the direct dialing number to be registered.
In the direct dialing number registering method, it is also possible to cause the child station to indicate that the child station corresponds to the direct dialing number registered in the parent station after the direct dialing number for the child station is registered into the parent station.
Therefore, the direct dialing number registering method according to the first aspect of the invention makes it possible for a user to recognize which one of the child stations corresponds to which one of the direct dialing numbers, at the time of registration of the direct dialing numbers of the individual child stations.
Unlike the conventional art, the direct dialing number registering method according to the first aspect of the invention eliminates the need to perform a test operation for finding the correspondence between the direct dialing numbers and the child stations after the direct dialing numbers have been registered. Therefore, the operation of registering direct dialing numbers is simplified.
Furthermore, since the method makes is possible for a user to recognize the child station corresponding to a direct dialing number that is to be registered or has been registered, the direct dialing number registering method substantially eliminates the danger of registering a false direct dialing number, and therefore ensures that direct dialing numbers can be registered properly and reliably by performing the registering operation only one time.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a direct dialing number registering method in a communication apparatus including a parent station connected to a communication line and a plurality of child stations capable of two-way communication with the parent station, wherein due to specific identification numbers pre-set for the individual child stations, transmission and reception between the parent station and a specific child station can be performed. In the method, the parent station is set to a direct dialing number registering mode by an operation performed at the parent station. A child station for which a direct dialing number is to be set is caused to transmit the identification number of the child station to the parent station set in the direct dialing number registering mode, by operation performed at the child station. The direct dialing number of the child station corresponding to the identification number received by the parent station, is registered into the parent station.
In this direct dialing number registering method, after the parent station receives the identification number from a child station operated by a user to transmit the identification number, the direct dialing number of the child station corresponding to the identification number received by the parent station is registered into the parent station. Therefore, the method makes it possible for a user to recognize what direct dialing number is about be registered for a child station that the user actually specifies, in other words, to recognize for which child station the user is about to register a direct dialing number.
Unlike the conventional art, the direct dialing number registering method according to the second aspect of the invention also eliminates the need to perform a test operation for finding the correspondence between the direct dialing numbers and the child stations after the direct dialing numbers have been registered. Therefore, the operation of registering direct dialing numbers becomes simplified.
Furthermore, since the method makes is possible for a user to recognize the child station corresponding to a direct dialing number that is to be registered, the direct dialing number registering method substantially eliminates the danger of registering a false direct dialing number, and therefore ensures that direct dialing numbers can be registered properly and reliably by performing the registering operation only once.
According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a direct dialing number registering method in a communication apparatus including a parent station connected to a communication line and a plurality of child stations capable of two-way communication with the parent station, wherein due to specific identification numbers pre-set for the individual child stations, transmission and reception between the parent station and a specific child station can be performed. In the method, the parent station is set to a direct dialing number registering mode by causing a child station, for which a direct dialing number is to be set, to transmit a direct dialing number registering mode setting signal to the parent station. The direct dialing number of the child station is registered into the parent station by causing the child station to transmit the direct dialing number of the child station to the parent station.
In this direct dialing number registering method, after a child station transmits the direct dialing number registering mode setting signal together with the identification number thereof to the parent station, the direct dialing number of the child station corresponding to the identification number received by the parent station is transmitted from the child station to the parent station, so that the direct dialing number is registered into the parent station. Therefore, the method makes it possible for a user performing the registering operation to recognize what direct dialing number the user is about to register for a child station specified by the user, that is, to recognize for which child station the user is about to register a direct dialing number.
The direct dialing number registering method according to the third aspect of the invention also eliminates the need to perform a test operation for finding the correspondence between the direct dialing numbers and the child stations after the direct dialing numbers have been registered. Therefore, the operation of registering direct dialing numbers becomes simpler.
Furthermore, since the method makes is possible for a user to recognize the child station corresponding to a direct dialing number that is to be registered, the direct dialing number registering method substantially eliminates the danger of registering a false direct dialing number, and therefore ensures that direct dialing numbers can be registered properly and reliably by performing the registering operation only once.
By this method, the parent station can be set to the direct dialing number registering mode by operating a child station. More specifically, a direct dialing number for a child station can be registered into the parent station by operating the child station only, without a need to directly operate the parent station at all. Therefore, the registration operation becomes simple and efficient.